ask for it. bill: we will be hear all day today. martha: check us out. bill: you have a awesome, fantastic, wonderful birthday. you are blessed with a lot. martha:, thank you, i am. "happening now" starts right now. be back here tomorrow. jon: fox news alert and happy birthday to martha. the polls are open. faceoff in florida is on. good morning to you, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, we're glad you're with us. i'm jenna lee. we're in the fox newsroom and "happening now" the biggest presidential contest to date is underway this as the folks in the sunshine state head to the polls in the winner-take-all primary. the gop is anticipating a very large turnout. we'll see what happens, jon. jon: it looks to be big. mitt romney is trying to cement his lead as the party front-runner. newt gingrich is not giving up without a fight. he says he will stay all the way to the convention no

matter what happens and beyond. rick santorum and ron paul are still in it but sarah palin seems to be saying that the battle is shaping up to be a two-man race. >> when you look at the numbers and do the math, you see romney and newt gingrich are the two front-runners and they it appears today, it is one or the other. jenna: steve harrigan live in orlando with more on all of this. hi, steve. >> reporter: jenna we saw the newt gingrich bus pull up at a polling station in orlando. he got out and took pictures with supporters. newt gingrich is saying no matter what happens in florida he expects this fight for the nomination to go on five or six more months. anyone who thinks it is over is wrong again. >> same people thought i was dead in june or people thought i was dead after iowa, those people? >> exactly. >> they are as accurate as the last two. >> reporter: we've seen a major shift here in florida. a big turnaround for mitt romney. several factors contributing to the big turnaround and romney surge the first a

strong performance in the two debates here in florida. romney being much more aggressive on the attack in those debates. second, heavy spending by the romney campaign and allies. more than $17 million spent in the major media markets here in florida, outspending the gingrich team by a ratio of 4 to 1. romney, organizations specially on the ground, really tough organization with the early voters and absentee voters. they could make up 600,000 votes of an expected turnout that could top 2 million. jenna, jon, back to you. jenna: we'll continue to watch throughout the day, steve, thank you. jon: as voters head to the polls in florida the gop campaign seals to be getting pretty ugly with newt gingrich claiming mitt romney is a threat to religious freedom. take a listen. >> the obama administration has just launched an attack on christianity, so severe, that every single church in florida had a letter read from the bishops yesterday, all across the country. cardinal dolan is leading an

evident to explain literally freedom of religion in america is now being attacked by obama. the romney-care does the same thing. romney-care has taxpayer paid abortions. romney-care put planned parenthood, largest abortion provider in america in the bill. no right to life groups in the bill. planned parent hood is. romney approved taking away a conscience clause from catholic hospitals. jon: joining us is the governor of florida, rick scott. governor, you have heard a lot of mudslinging from both sides in this campaign. any of it make you cringe? >> well, i think they ought to talk about what is important to florida. what is important in florida we need jobs. our unemployment rate is dropped from 12 to 9.9, 2.1% drop, second biggest in the country. florida companies added 141,000 jobs but we have 900,000 people out of work. we need somebody in washington that thinks like we do. reduce taxes. reduce spending. don't have all these regulations that are just

killing jobs. that's what we in washington. when people go to the polls today and i think people have voted and i think almost 700,000 votes earlier than today, they talked about jobs. i mean how do you get people to work? that is what people in florida care about. jon: well, let me fair a phrase president obama. he cited some of those figures you just did, said, hey, our unemployment rate is declining slowly. we were in a deeper hole than i ever thought when i took office and that's why i need four more years. what do you say to that? >> here's what i think. we couldn't do what we do in d.c. that we've done in florida. we reduces taxes. we reduces property taxes. we reduced business taxes. we need to do the same thing in washington. you can't have the second highest corporate tax rates in the world and expect people to flock to the america. we are paying down our debt. that is what the government needs to do. we don't have regulation killing our jobs.

that's what we need to do in washington. the next president has to say i like private business. i believe in the american dream. i believe in capitalism. you know what? that is where the jobs get created. the next president has to do that i want a partner to do what i've done in florida, to drive down unemployment, to drive up employment. jon: it is said florida is a microcosm of america. i lived in your state in miami a deck 1/2. i know miami vote remembers very different from the folks on the west side of the state or the i-4 corridor or the panhandle. what do you say about what florida is looking for this time around in a president? >> well, you're right. this is a big state. we're soon to become the third biggest state. clearly the swing state, the biggest swing state in the country and yet it is a microcosm of the country. it i was an absolute melting pot. this is a great place to live. 250,000 people moved back here in about 15-month period ending last union. you're right, this is an

important state. this state reflects our country. it is the most important primary to win. it will decide the presidency in november. so whoever wins here, there is going to have a big leg up if not, they will be guaranteed a winner. jon: do you worry they will be badly damaged by attacks? mitt romney and newt gingrich, those two seem to be the front-runners and they are going at each other tooth and nail in your state? >> you know, i think what they ought to be talking about is the biggest issue we have. think about it. you think about, when you go to the polls you say what is good for my family? i want my children to get an education. i want to be able to get a job and don't let government raise the cost of living. that is what they care about. when people go to the polls they will vote for somebody. not against somebody. they want to vote for somebody that will help their family. i think the biggest issue they're going to think about, i voted this morning. when you walk in there and vote you're going to say who is going to help my family get a job. jon: youoted this morning but you didn't say who you're voting for. why not? why not make an endorsement?

>> i think, you know, i want to leave it to the voters of florida. i think they're going to make a good decision. i think the voters of florida will ultimately decide who the presidency is. i think the right thing to let them make a decision. jon: how is the weather in florida today, governor? >> it is outstanding. jon: i had a feeling would you say that. >> tallahassee today, you know, my state of the state address i said the weather here is, the temperature is twice as high as new york and the taxes are half they are in new york per capita. so i said everybody should come on down. that's what they should do. come to florida. we have great weather, beaches. no personal income tax, right to work. we are the best place in the country and the world to do business, we'll bring the showdown there for the next --. jenna: that sound like an invitation. >> absolutely. jon: governor rick scott. >> if the governor invites you, how do you say no? you can't say no to the governor. jon: let's call the second floor. jenna: we have to talk about what is happening in washington, d.c. a little north of florida and a tad

bit colder especially on this topic. there is new report on operation "fast and furious" creating a serious controversy right now. a panel of house democrats say there is no evidence that the failed gun-running sting was directed or created by top political appointees of the justice department, top political appointees like the attorney general. eric holder is set to face questions this week. republican california congressman darrell issa will ask some of the questions. he is the chairman on the house committee on oversight and government reform. congressman, this committee says they obtained no evidence indicating that the attorney general authorized gun walking or he was aware of such allegations. they point to 22 witnesses that say they never talked to any high-ranking officials in the department of justice. do you have proof to the contrary of that? >> you know, jenna, in 1991 when the minister of information in baghdad said that our people were being killed as they landed and they were being pushed back and iraq was going to destroy america he probably

meant it when he said it but a few hours later they were gone. the fact is, the amazing thing is, they didn't work over the weekend. they released this last night around midnight but last friday in the dump done by the justice department, late on friday in order to avoid any kind of real review over the weekend, what they showed us was that lanny breuer on the very day we were being given a false statement, february 4th, he was in mexico lobbying for continuation of gun-walking. so you know, if you just read the administration's dump, which they of course undoubtedly had ahead of time they would have known their whole report was based on a premise that was false. jenna: are you calling the authors of this report lie, -- loors? >> no, jenna i said they probably didn't read the friday dump it is kind of hard to read it. three days after the friday dump the evidence given to us finally by the administration goes even further.

it shows lanny breuer was still a believer in "fast and furious" and programs like it. you can't call it a rogue program when the number three, number two under eric holder and the head of these kind of investigation, lanny breuer is still advocating for gun-walking. i guess he wanted to do it in a better way but ultimately he still believed it. jenna: you say his awareness of this automatically implicates the attorney general as well? >> jenna, you've got to listen carefully. the report said, didn't say that eric holder knew or didn't know. it said no one at justice. ma'am, you can't get much higher than lanny breuer without getting to eric holder. clearly lanny breuer not only knew about the programs but advocated for them even after brian terry was gunned down. jenna: sew what are the questions you have for the attorney general on thursday? >> what do you think you're doing if you can't know people in justice at high level are doing it? what are you doing when you're going to say that in fact the bush administration did it and it was wrong but

you not only continued doing tt but expanded >> the investigation into "fast and furious" leaves no doubt this administration allowed 2,000 guns to walk and did sew with approvals at justice, including u.s. attorneys including dea and atf that is not debatable regardless what the minority almost dill legsal way put out last night -- delusional. jenna: will you finally ask the attorney general to step down? >> that is a decision only the president can make.

i said i don't have confidence in him. i'm deeply disappointed justice has not been able to respond quickly an honestly. the fact is they lawyered up rather than delivering the kind of responsive information first to senator grassley and then to our committee. remember senator grassley was flat told they wouldn't answer his questions until we came in with a subpoena. it was in fact senator grassley asking legitimate oversight questions that prompted this whole investigation. if they hadn't tried to thwart it time and time again this wouldn't be looking more like iran-contra than a rogue operation as they would like you to believe. jenna: this is a story we continued to follow very closely, very important to our viewers. i see through this committee report, again more references to the atf agents in phoenix, arizona u.s. attorney's office and also references to the bush administration for being part of these series of operations. so we know there's a lot to work through on thursday. we'll be listening very closely, congressman. thank you so much. >> thanks a lot. jon: right now the

investigation is still underway into the deadlyliest car crash in florida history. 10 people died. 16 more hurt in a string of pile-ups along i-75 near gainesville. today we're hearing horrifying emergency calls from that scene. >> oh, my god. jon: rick folbaum is working this story from the breaking news desk. he will have more of those calls and some new information on why the florida highway patrol is now defending its handling of this tragedy. that is coming up in just a few minutes. also some new questions about airport safety. tsa agents stop a passenger carrying a pair of suspicious packages. what they did next though is raising some serious concerns. >> mitt romney is hoping for a big victory today in

florida's primary. john mccain won big there in 2008 but there are big differences from four years ago. we'll take a look how florida changed. jon: also, he's already in the books for riding the world's largest wave. jenna speaks live with legendary surfer garrett mcthat mara about his plans to break his own world record. wait until you hear what he has got in mind. ♪ it's the little things in life that make me smile. spending the day with my niece. i don't use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free.

with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. so it's not about keeping my dentures in, it's about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job. so why are you doing hers? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious... like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage

the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid related erosions in the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. let your doctor do her job, and you do yours. ask if nexium is right for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

jenna: we have brand new information coming out into our newsroom on those deadly crashes on that smokey highway near gainesville, florida, over the weekend. just a horrific accident and rick, we're starting to understand a little bit more

what happened there. >> reporter: we are, jenna. this is such a tough story. you heard the numbers. 10 people dead, 18 wounded. at least a dozen cars, six tractor-trailers and a motor home all involved in these crashes the drivers simply could not see because of all the smoke in the air, the product of a brush fire not far from the highway. two officers just made the call, moments before the pileups to reopen i-75. they thought the conditions had improved enough. listen to some of the 911 calls that came in from other motorists, horrified what was going on. these are people unable to see more than a foot or so in front of them. listen.

>> reporter: meantime we are learning more about some of the victims. jose carmo, he was a pastor outside of atlanta. he was making a early morning trip back home in order to get back in time for sunday morning services of the his wife and daughter were killed alongwith him. the couples other daughter survived. she is in critical condition. the florida highway patrol

spokesman, lieutenant patrick riordan defending the decision to reopen the roadway. drivers have to recognize the environment changes. they have to be prepared to make good judgements. meantime the governor called for an investigation. hopefully we'll learn more exactly what happened. back to you. jenna: hopefully never happens again. rick, thank you. jon: awful, awful phone calls. we're going to be talking about the growing standoff with iran and what to do about its developing nuclear program, just some of the challenges facing the white house now in the middle east. we'll discuss our options with iran with a former spokesman to four u.n. ambassadors.

jon: a little history now. back in 2008 john mccain was a big winner of the florida

primary but what a difference four years can make. for one thing there are more conservatives in florida now and the economy is a much bigger issue in a state hit so hard by the housing crisis. let's talk about it with chris stirewalt, fox news political digital editor and host of "power play" on foxnews.com live. are voters self-described more conservative this time around? >> when you look at the exit polling from the 2010 election, 80% of all the republican voters said they were conservative. that was a 19% jump over all the conservatives from the 2008 primary. that is a pretty big increase. it certainly manifests itself as you see, you were talking to governor rick scott, he is a lot more conservative than his predecessor. you saw what marco rubio did to charlie crist, a moderate, people saw as a blueprint where the republican party was going to go. certainly florida moved hard to the right since 2008.

jon: john mccain won florida. mitt romney came in second. romney seems to have support of some of those conservatives. >> he has the support of so many of those conservatives. the goal for him, the hope, he can recreate what he was last time. remember when he was in florida against john mccain and came in second he was chasing mccain as conservative alternative. he was running to the right of mccain in florida and trying to say conservatives voters go with me, not the establishment pick. the shoe is on other foot. those voters will remember him from 2008. jon: florida is winner-take-all state. that doesn't matter who comes in second. >> that makes voters to weigh their choices carol live. when voters think about they go with their heart that would be good news for rick santorum. jon: chris stirewalt, thank you. >> you bet. jon: catch more of chris's "power play" at the bottom of the hour, foxnews.com. thank you. >> secretary of state hillary clinton is calling on the syrian government to

end the violent crackdown on its own people. she is at the u.n., the united nations, pushing for a resolution aiming to end president assad's grip on power there alongwith his deadly crackdown. this comes with violence we hear according to reports inside the country is entering a new phase with military killing civilians outside of damascus. we have a former spokesman for four u.n. ambassadors to the u.n. rick, resolution like the one we hear that may be offered, what exactly can that do? >> well, if there's unity in the security council it can be a powerful tool to use like a bully pulpit. i don't think that the council, the security council is talking about sanctions yet. they need to condemn this assad regime and make clear that he should go. they haven't been able to do that. jenna: why not, rick? what is happening? what's the holdup? >> you know it's a great question, jenna and there is

a lot of talk about secretary of state hillary clinton being very good at her job but i just don't see it. i don't think she's been able to produce any resolutions. her work combined with u.s. ambassador susan rice, together they're failing. they haven't been able to produce a resolution on syria. they say that the chinese and the russians are not comfortable with the language and they would veto. but we don't know that for sure. you have to force the vote. call for a vote and make the russians and chinese stand up. they always say that they're against resolutions especially tough ones. certainly in my days at the u.n. the russians and chinese were constantly saying that they were not for a resolution. but, you know, we would force them to a vote. then we would see they would vote for it. hillary clinton and susan rice need to get stronger and they need to call the vote at the u.n. and force the russians and the chinese to stand and take account. jenna: we have some breaking news into the newsroom,

rick. hold on one second. >> sure. jenna: we have new testimony before congress. director of national intelligence says iran is preparing to launch terror attacks inside the united states if threatened by the u.s. or israel. that is just happening, this news breaking right now. meantime, we heard this yesterday, and it really, caught our attention. white house spokesman jay carney was asked about containing iran? here is what he had to say yesterday. >> we have a comprehensive strategy that we've been executing with the international community, with partners and allies around the world that is having a clear impact on the iranian economy. we continue to make clear to the iranians the way to relief the pressure is to through the p5 plus one process, live up to its obligations. jenna: so, rick, two pieces of news there. what's your reaction? >> you know my reaction is that jay carney doesn't know

his history. we started sanctions on iran a long time ago as a nation, the u.s. bilateral sanctions in 2006. we, the united nations, put, more sanctions on iran. we've had sanctions on this country till we're blue in the face and they're clearly not working. the breaking news that you just had really shows that the sanctions aren't working. that iran is feeling more powerful to stand up to the united states. they're trying to, with the plot we saw, the assassination plot on the saudi ambassador, they're trying to intimidate the international community. now they have our drone. what has the obama administration done? almost nothing. they still haven't produced a resolution on iran at the u.n. in 22 months. we've had total silence in 22 months. jenna: rick, just to be fair, though, there were sanctions during the bush administration as well. this sort of practice has been used by a variety of different administrations to pressure the iranian region game. some experts i speak to say

this time is different. because the of the economy these sanctions have teeth. there is a financial consequence to this, maybe this time, that is some of what our viewers are hearing on this show. why do you disagree with that? >> we've been hearing maybe this time since 2006. you know when you have pressure on the iranians like we started in 2006, 2007, there were more sanctions. in 2008 we put additional sanctions on. when you have that pressure, if you release the pressure, then we go back to ground zero. and we start all over again. iranians love to stretch this out. they want more debate. they want more process because they're very close to getting a nuclear weapon. so what they're trying to do is to run out of clock. jenna: what is the alternative, rick, to the sanctions? >> i think the alternative was years ago, to keep pressure on and have oil sanctions. now the alternative is clearly military action. i hate to say it. it's not a very pleasant

option but it has to be used to make sure that iran does not get a nuclear weapon because the whole game changes if we have a middle east where iran has a nuclear weapon and they are beginning to bully not only the united states and israel but the rest of the region as well. and the simple fact is this administration is now relying on regional oil sanctions where, they are clearly not going to work either because we have italy, we have spain an greece who have already said they're not going to implement the oil sanctions. south korea is shortly behind them. we already have countries standing up saying they won't implement the current sanctions but we have the white house saying these sanctions are going to work. the two are not going together and clearly your breaking news shows. jenna: we'll be talking to one of our military analysts a little later on what exactly a military option would look like. meantime the next six months especially through these sanctions are important.

rick, thanks very much for your insight today. always appreciate it. >> thanks, jenna call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

i'm bidding on a 1979 dukes of hazzard lunchbox, but my auction ends in 15 seconds ! even worse, my buddy's bidding on the same lunchbox. it's airbrushed ! but i've got verizon 4g lte. it's so fast that i can outbid him at the last second. i got it ! yes, i won ! woo hoo ! it's got a thermos ! rely on verizon 4g lte. because only the fastest survive. [♪...] >> announcer: bank robbery certainly is a frightening crime. after all, bank robbers stole $43 million in one year. but identity thieves? try 37 billion! and guess how identity thieves are getting some of that money. by taking over our bank accounts. they may not even need your social security number anymore. all an identity thief may need are a couple of simple pieces of

information, like your mother's maiden name or the city you were born in, and they could add their name onto your bank accounts in order to make your money their money. you need help. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock-- the only identity protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock is the proactive identity protection company with an early warning alert system that is state of the art. when we detect any suspected breaches of your personal information within our network, we contact you right away, before the damage is done. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity protection available. no one can stop all identity theft-- that's why lifelock offers you peace of mind, and you get our million dollar total service guarantee. >> having your identity stolen feels like you've been totally violated. you go around looking over your shoulder. it's almost as if someone has broken into your home. >> announcer: don't spend another day without lifelock. call now! try lifelock's service risk-free for 60 days. lifelock is the only identity

protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. no one provides more comprehensive identity protection than lifelock. if you're not convinced after 60 days, simply notify lifelock and you won't pay. and to keep your documents out of the wrong hands, we'll even add this personal shredder-- a $29 value-- absolutely free with your enrollment. don't wait another minute. call now or go to lifelock.com. lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. jon: more trouble for the tsa right now after agents wait three hours to tell police about a potentially deadly situation. a passenger at new york's laguardia airport surrenders two suspicious-looking items after they're spotted in an x-ray scan but it is what agents did or didn't do with them has many people concerned. rick leventhal has more live from new york. rick? >> reporter: jon, this began

with a routine screening at 11:30 yesterday morning. a man's bags go through an x-ray machine and a tsa agent is started to see two items that look like pipe bombs. another screener steps in. they see a two pipes, one gold and silver with springs inside. supervisor is called. the passenger says they're for homeopathic medicine. they are swabbed and cleaned. he is allowed to board but without the pipes and set set aside in a screening area until 3:00 p.m. until another supervisor that was not there earlier sees the pipes and calls the cops. the bomb squad takes the pipes away and confirms they're not a threat. a source with the port authority police tells me more prudent action shoved been taken saying if you see it in your house you don't leave them lying around for your kids.

the problem here according to the tsa is shift change. the when the new shift saw the suspicious-looking devices they had obvious concerns and that's why things escalated. tsa said the first crew did the right thing by not letting devices on planes since they looked like bombs and might alarm other passengers. tsa says no passengers were ever in danger and air port operations were not disrupted but they are looking into more procedure for future shift changes in the future. jon: rick thanks. jenna: the drought situation in texas and some relief for one small town in texas. tanker trucks are bringing spicewood, texas, much-needed water. this is a temporary fix. they have a well there completely dried up. so the tanker troubleses are coming in to try to fix the problem. plans to dig a new well or build a pipeline are in the works until a permanent solution is found. the town is picking up the bill for the very expensive deliveries. that can't be easy. jon: that has to be very

tough. polls are open in florida. weather could be key for the turnout . what do you think it is like in florida today? let's ask the weather machine, janice dean live in fox news weather center. jd. >> florida is living up to its name, the sunshine state, jon scott. look at weather 8. i will zoom in on into to show you we're dealing with mainly clear skies. i know you can get weather 8 up. i know you can. i know you can. i think i can. i think i can. right, guys? jon: janice dean the little engine that could. >> there we go, yea. jon: i sense, we're about to zoom in on florida. >> thanks guys. there is florida, a little bit of cloud cover moving into the panhandle. otherwise it will be a beautiful day for everyone going to be voting today. 66 right now? jacksonville. 74 in fort myers. a look ahead to today's forecast. everywhere you look pretty much sunshine. so that's a pretty nice forecast if i do say so myself. the rest of the country has

been unseasonably warm all winter long. it is last day of january. look at the ohio river valley. temperatures about 20 degrees on average above average. this is incredible. but, you look at alaska? not the case. look at these temperatures. way below average for fairbanks, minus 28 right now. 14 in anchorage. when you factor in what it feels like with the wind if you're not dressed properly, you really shouldn't be outside if you live in barrow. fairbanks, minus 28. gym river alaska almost broke all-time record of minus 80 degrees but the battery died at the weather station there. jon: no, the battery froze i think. >> that's probably right. and just, quick look at our drought monitor, i know jenna was mentioning the drought across texas. even though we're dealing with extreme severe drought, this is a big improvement what we saw just a couple months ago across texas.

back to you. jon: janice dean, thank you. >> you bet. jon: keep it here all day for the coverage of voting in florida. then at 6:00 p.m. eastern you tune into bret baier. fox news will tell us who is victorious in this winner-take-all primary. fox news is your election headquarters. jenna: well then there's this story. one woman is still on the loose after a driver takes california police on a wild chase. you can see the suspect flying through red lights, even driving on the other side of the road at a certain point. speeds up to 90 miles per hour. the 22-year-old armed driver eventually crashed this stolen vehicle. then he tried to run as they normally do. cops say he fired several shots at a police dog, who tracked him down and found him in a nearby shed. luckily the dog is all right and the suspect is in custody but investigators are still looking for a female passenger. they say she also fled after the crash and they weren't able to track her down. jon: that's why a lot of departments are getting bulletproof vests for the

k-9s. good for them. >> new reports that could anger plenty of you out there if you're a homeowner. mortgage giant, freddie mac, remember them? bailed out by you the taxpayer during the 2008 financial crisis? freddie mac may be placing big bets against homeowners. we'll explain coming up in a live report. and, we've seen videos like these. citizens taping police beating suspects. do they have a right to do it though? a big controversy after officers take away a women woman's cell phone memory card when she used it to tape what she ways as a police beating. judge napolitano weighs in coming up. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

progressive saved me so much money on car insurance, this baggage fee is on me. did you check that bag? houston? well, welcome to savingsville. did you pay $25 for that bag fee? -yeah. -you did? with all the money i saved on progressive car insurance, i'll take care of that bag fee. you're so kind thank you! you guys just landed in savingsville. [laughs] yes, we did! you made my day. do you want to pay our college tuition, too? my high school science teacher made me what i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars

into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love ience. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido jenna: welling stories we're keeping an eye on here in the newsroom and from our control room as well. the director of intelligence telling congress while al qaeda is in decline around the world it is still a leading threat to america. it is not alone. jim clapper saying home

broken lone wolf attacks also pose a threat. he mentioned iran. keeping a close eye what he has to say today. meantime the head of russia's space agency is blaming cosmic radiation for the failure of its moon probe. the very same probe that crashed to earth this month. we mentioned this story when it first broke. the russia was blaming others including the united states for sabotage. but, apparently that is not to blame. home prices nearly all big u.s. cities tracked by a major index plunged for a third straight month. the biggest drop seen in atlanta, chick foe and detroit. -- chicago. jon: right now we're learning of a possible conflict of interest that our nation's largest mortgage lender that could impact millions of homeowners. taxpayer-owned mortgage giant freddie mac reportedly is selling a type of mortgage-backed security to investors that only pays off if the homeowners are unable to refinance their mortgages

at lower rates. sound like a conflict of interest? cheryl casone is with the fox business network. cheryl, freddie mac i thought was chartered to help homeowners get financing that is successful, is that right? >> that is exactly right. that is the charter of freddie mac. they're supposed to be helping homeowners across this country not only stay in their homes but get better access to financing which has been the biggest problem over the last three years. they have a trading arm, which many people may not know. freddie mac has a trading arm. remember, this used to be a business back in the day before taxpayers bailed out freddie mac. so of course they're trying to leverage themselves, leverage investors to make profits but it's the way that they're doing this has raised some serious eyebrows. this is a study, an investigation that has been done. no response from freddie mac but treasury and the administration, jay carney, says they're looking into this because you've got an organization on one hand saying we want to help the homeowner on the other hand betting against the

homeowner. they can't refinance. it just looks bad. may be legal, jon but it looks bad. jon: that's the question, are they doing anything wrong here? >> they're following the letter of the law because as freddie mac was structured and freddie mac that used to be, again a private enterprise, they are within their rights. having said that, and they say, according to freddie mac these are separate arms. this is separation of church and state at freddie mac. those that are regulators and you have those that are traders, separate division. but the sheer fact that it got this type of trading and investment vehicles being offered, being bought and sold by freddie mac by this trading arm is what seems very inappropriate. again, you've got, let me point out one thing. it is better for the economy, it is better for freddie mac, it is better for banks and financial systems for people at home to stay in their homes, to refinance. every economist in this nation will say that to you. yet fred free comes along says, well, if these folks stay in the high-interest

mortgages we can profit from it. this is the same thing that happened back in 2008. banks making bets against the homeowners. we think that you're going to fail. that's really what freddie mac is saying here. in case you fail, we're going to profit from it. jon: that's your government, making your life better, right? >> exactly. jon: cheryl casone thank you. jenna: millions of floridians are weighing in on the presidential race but polls show many waited until today to decide who to vote for. so is it still anybody's race to win? we'll ask that question and get some answers. and he holds the record for surfing the world's tallest wave. now he wants to go even bigger. this epic athlete is joining us live to talk about what it will take to break his own record and his brand new invention. ♪ you know when i grow up,

i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. g this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight,

a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement.

jenna: this has to be my favorite story of the day. catching a 9 -foot wave was enough to break the world's record -- 90. surfer garrett mcnamara, says that is not enough for him to search for larger waves. take a look at that he is using military grade technology to find one big enough to top his own record. surfing a wave taller than a 10 story building he designed his own wetsuit. it has an oxygen pocket so he can survive several minutes underwater. there is a look at garrett. he joins us on the phone. we have to run some of the surfing video. why do you do this? >> just what i love to do.

it is my passion. jenna: it is incredible to watch. we're watching this wave. i believe this is your record-setting wave we have on television right now. how hard is it to ride a wave like that? >> it's totally demanding with all the chop coming up the face and wave coming down behind you, it is really challenging. jenna: so you have invented this new, i don't want to call it a wetsuit. what would you call it? you develop ad suit that will help you survive a wave like that? >> i would call it a survival suit. jenna: and what exactly does it allow to you survive? >> well, you get knocked out underwater, you will pop up sooner or later. as long as it is not longer than five minutes your friends can get you in and bring you back to life. it enables you to pretty much survive almost anything as long as you don't end up on the rock. >> have you ever been close to not making it? >> i never have, thank god. i've been comfortable with

every wipeout i faced thus far. jenna: these images are just amazing. i understand you're looking for the next beggest wave to surf. have you tried out the suit? does it work? >> i have tried the suit and i love it and we have new surf boards with jet engines in them called wave jet. jenna: what is that? >> they have a little jet engine to get to the wave and hopefully not have to wipe out and use survival suit. if you don't wipe out you don't need the suit. if you have the boards that get us in the right place. we also use the wave jet to take autistic children surfing in the sum year that sounds amazing. we'll talk to you in the future. we see more video of you, garrett. love talking to you. we'll be watching you. thank you. >> thank you. jon: he is look for 120-foot wave? jenna: that's what he says. he has a private plane that can get into the waves when they happen. you have to get there when

it happens. jon: we have to show that video when he gets it. jenna: we'll be ready. >> brand new information on al qaeda. why that terror network is still a major threat to the united states. plus new details about the dangers posed by terror suspects locked up at the guantanamo bay prison. we're live with some details. a major winter blast as folks dig out from nearly three feet of snow. it's not florida but could this monster storm be headed your way? ?ó@]

>> hi, everybody, rick rick fol, and we are live inside the control room. you know about the president's decision to say no to that pipeline deal with canada. canada now looking for another

partner. we'll talk about why they may be looking to china. also take a look over here, this is a couple of homes that were blown up, and this is a mystery because, apparently, those moments in the area do not use natural gas, so we'll talk about that coming up. and then you know how technology has played a major role in police investigations. a woman is now accusing the police of tampering with her cell phone in order to keep some incriminating evidence from being released. the judge will be here to weigh in on that. and, of course, we continue to cover florida today, the big primary. the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: "happening now", voting is underway in florida as republicans compete in the biggest primary of the campaign so far. we're glad you're with us, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. state officials predict it will be a big turnout, more than two million voters expected to vote in florida's today. today's outcome could go a long

way in deciding the party's nominee for president. let's talk about it with tom bevin, the executive editor of realclearpolitics.com. tom, what should we be watching for out of florida today? >> well, obviously, i think the size of romney's victory if he does, in fact, win. the polls show that he's poised to win a big victory -- jon: yeah. forgone conclusion there? -- foregone conclusion there? >> we've seen a lot of it out of florida, there's been a lot of polling that's taken place there. now, they could be wrong as they were in 2008 in new hampshire with barack obama and hillary clinton and shocked everybody. but barring something like that, the question is, you know, the margin of victory's going to matter, and the question is where this goes from here. obviously, gingrich has declared he's going to stay in the race, take this thing to convention and make it a long slog. i think the closer he is to

romney in florida, the more momentum he would have to make that a possibility. and, obviously, rick santorum and ron paul both say they are going to stay in this race and try -- it's a race for delegates, after all. you have to get 1144 delegates. there are 50 delegate at stake today, it's a winner take all state as of right now. so romney, if he wins, would be able to pack away 50 delegates to his total and move forward to a couple of the contests in february heading into, you know, march 6th which is super tuesday where there are 466 delegate at stake. jon: a lot of people assume mitt romney's eventually going to be the nominee, but out of the three contests to this point, he's only won new hampshire. so a win in florida could propel him a long way. >> yeah. and the thing, the thing, also, about romney is he's spent an awful lot of money, and that's what's coming to bear in florida right now. it is the one state where money matters the most.

he's outspent gingrich about five to one on the airwaves down there, and it has paid dividends for him, no question about it. i think gingrich has also complained about that which has helped romney, the fact that gingrich has sort of come off as complaining about that. but you're right, i mean, to this point gingrich has spent an awful lot of money. that's something people are talking about. this money advantage is serving him well in the primary, but if he's the nominee against obama, he won't have a spending advantage. in fact, he will be outspent in a lot of these states, and where does that leave him, and how strong of a candidate will he be if that spending advantage is negated? jon: you mentioned it's a winner take all state, so coming in second place, it's not worth a hill of beans. are people, when they go to the polls in florida, are they thinking about casting the rote for the people they like the best -- the vote for the person they like the best or the person they think eventually could beat president obama? >> well, that's been the struggle with a lot of

republican voters in all these early primary states. electability is a question, and that, certainly, given where the general election polls, that has been an argument that has mostly worked to mitt romney's favor. now, newt gingrich has tried to make the argument that, you know, he is the more electable candidate and that conservatives, republicans need a conservative contrast in the general election that will fare better against obama. he's had a tougher go with that argument over time. um, the economy is certainly dominant as an issue in the minds of all voters, including republican primary voters, so voters are trying to -- they're voting who they like, but there's also an eye toward electability, and that's something we've seen play out in all these states, and i'm sure, will continue to be the sort of head versus heart thing that we'll see throughout this extended primary as it heads forward into march and, perhaps, may and june. jon: well, it is going to be a fascinating day in the florida. the outcome still sort of up in the air. tom, thanks for watching it with us, we appreciate it.

tune in tonight as all of those ballots are counted. we will have special coverage starting at 6 p.m. eastern time. you'll want to know what florida decides. jenna: well, this just in on operation fast and furious, the gun-walking or gun-tracking operation linked to the death of a border patrol agent. congressional democrats are releasing a report they say clears top justice officials including the attorney general of any wrongdoing. william la jeunesse has been reporting on fast and furious from the start, and he joins us now from los angeles. >> reporter: in short, the report blames arizona officials in contrast, it says the administration's political appointees and top managers in washington did not know or were unaware that the u.s. was deliberately helping send some 2,000 guns south of the border. the report clears all the king's men including top aides lanny breuer, lonnie wilkinson, jason weinstein as well as the

attorney general himself, eric holder. and top executives at the atf, ken nelson, billy hoover, bill mcmahon. all these guys either did not know or could not recall being told that the atf was deliberately and knowingly helping send illegal guns to mexico as part of an agency strategy to go after the cartels. instead, the report blames three assistant u.s. attorneys in phoenix and their counterparts at the atf in phoenix for unnecessarily prolonging the case, lying or failing to explicitly say what they were doing. and, therefore, the top people are not responsible for what they did not know. the report's three main findings are this, jenna. number one, fast and furious was not the first operation of this kind, that the atf did it three times before under president bush. secondly, no high-level political appointees at the department of justice conceived or directed the operation. and, finally, that this was not a politically-motivated case to justify stricter gun laws in the

u.s. the report, of course, is meant to provide a defense for the administration and the attorney general when he appears thursday before the oversight committee. republicans, however, say, jenna, that this is a whitewash and that washington knew exactly what was happening and condoned it. thursday they will try to prove it through testimony and documents. back to you. jenna: need to watch the breaking news on this, william. thank you. jon: a hearing on capitol hill today looking into worldwide threats against the united states. a short time ago we heard from the head of the national counterterrorism center who said dozens of detainees at guantanamo bay are just too dangerous to transfer. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live in the hearing room at capitol hill. catherine? >> reporter: thank you, jon, and good morning. two issues have dominated so far, iran's nuclear ambitions and whether the united states will transfer some of these detainees from guantanamo as part of these talks with the taliban in afghanistan. as you mentioned, we heard from the head of the national

counterterrorism center, matt olson, who was part of this review in 2009, and at that time they assessed these men were high risk. >> summit to the review we conducted in 2009 that determined that, i believe, those were among the 48 who were deemed too dangerous to release and who could not be prosecuted. um, but i've done no further review in my current capacity at nctc. >> reporter: and while lawmakers were told today that no decision has been made by the administration on the possible transfer of detainees from guantanamo as sort of a confidence-building measure with talks with the afghan taliban, the ranking member of the committee, saxby chambliss, pushed the top intelligence official in the u.s., james clapper, again and again to explain whether he saw these men as high risk. >> are you comfortable with transferring these individuals out of guantanamo? >> for me the key would be where

they would go, the intermediate country where they might be detained and the degree to which they would be surveilled. and that would be the key determinant for me. >> reporter: what we heard again and again from the witnesses is that the iranian leadership based on their intelligence has not made any decision to proceed to a nuclear weapon, but the signs are there that they are moving down that track in terms of the enrichment of uranium, and a short time ago we heard from the defense intelligence agency chief. >> clearly, the iranians have the capability, we assess, to temporarily close the straits of hormuz. the concern becomes then define temporarily. >> reporter: and also this morning if there's one exchange that's really stood out it's between senator rockefeller and the director of national intelligence. senator rockefeller, basically, told the panelists that he felt that while they said that cybersecurity was one of their number one concerns, he had seen

very little progress by the intelligence community in that area, jon? jon: wow. that's a week's worth of reporting in that room this morning. >> reporter: yeah, it was. [laughter] jon: fascinating stuff. thank you. jenna: this is certain i one of the -- certainly one of the big stories over the past couple of months, the gang who led police on a manhunt across the country. wait until you hear what they may have been plotting from their jail cells in colorado. in the meantime, florida in the national spotlight right now, but several states hold contests in the next few weeks. we're looking beyond florida to find out what's next, and rick is over at the web wall with more. rick? >> reporter: we're focused on politics online as well, and maybe this is something you can do during the commercial break. go to foxnews.com, this is the "happening now" home page. there's a little bit of a shift i've seen here, who do you want to win the gop nomination? we had seen ron paul in the lead for a long time. now, at least now, the results

are very close. it's a two-man race between newt gingrich and mitt romney. so we'll see. it's now your turn to go on and let us know what you think. we'll check the results and more politics and more "happening now" after a quick break. don't go away. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu.

i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i g heartburn. hold up partner. prilosec can take days to work. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw!

jon: a fox news alert and a surprise announcement about a long-time congressman. indiana congressman dan burton, a republican who represents the north side of indianapolis, announces he is not going to seek re-election. he is 73, been in congress, well, by the time he finishes out this term, it'll be 30 years, three decades, 15 terms. republican representative dan burton says he will not seek re-election to congress. it is thought that the couple of bruising primary battles he had the last time, last two times around, actually, may have entered into his thinking. it is also thought that his seat is safely republican, whoever is

elected to succeed him likely to be a republican based on the redrawn districts done by the legislature there. dan burton will not seek re-election to congress. jenna: well, right now new information on a few crime stories we're keeping an eye on including this one in mexico. police nabbing a member of the zetas drug gang suspected in those murders of 75 people, many of those victims or migrants that were pulled off buses near texas. in colorado hearings for two refuge ty brothers from florida -- fugitive brothers now postponed until mid february. ryan and dylan dougherty accused of shooting a cop and robbing a bank. and in maine, state police disappearing -- investigating the disappearance of a toddler say adults know more than they're saying. investigators also say they found no evidence to believe that ayla was abducted as her father suggested.

♪ jon: primary day in florida, and the voters are turning out right now. the stakes very high there with 50 delegates up for grabs in this winner-take-all primary. campaign carl cameron, our chief political correspondent, is in tampa right now. mitt romney, how confident is he right now, carl? >> reporter: well, you know, he's been criticized for being a risk-averse candidate prone to a disciplined message that doesn't allow for a lot of wiggle room, so when a candidate begins to loosen up a little bit, it's worth showing and telling you about. there's really no way to set this one up. listen. ♪ oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. ♪ for purple mountains majesty -- >> reporter: that was mitt romney last night at the villages, a huge retirement community here in florida, a massive crowd singing aloud and

getting the crowd to join him. that's about as unplugged and untethered as you've seen mitt romney in any of his two, now, presidential campaigns, and clearly an exhibition of his sense of relaxed good nature and belief that he's going to pull off a victory here. of course, up until today he'd been pretty far ahead in the polls, so singing is about as risky as you can get. jon: we heard the president singing al green a couple weeks back, i guess mitt romney was inspired to follow suit. what about newt gingrich today? >> reporter: again, sort of trying to look past the current race and position himself for upcoming battles and vowing that he will not get out of the race should he not win the florida 50 winner-take-all delegates and saying he's going to go on for some time, and he's also pressuring rick santorum to get out of the race and allow republican conservatives to coalesce behind newt gingrich which doesn't go over particularly well with rick santorum. here's a little bit from both of them. >> the longer the conservatives

are split, the more likely it is we end up with a nominee who i think as a moderate is going to have a very, very hard time beating president obama. >> i think it'd be weak to take someone into the nomination who is for a government-mandated health care system, that would require everybody to buy health insurance at the federal level, someone who was for the wall street bailout, someone who was for cap and trade and believed the hoax of global warming. those are very, very important issues, and by the way, mitt romney and newt gingrich both have those positions. and i would agree that we don't need someone, as he said, going into the fall against barack obama, but i don't think we need either one of those guys going in. >> reporter: rick santorum's campaigning in colorado today, a state that has a caucus a week from this coming saturday -- excuse me, tuesday. and it is, it is very easy to see he's trying to control his annoyance, his anger at the gingrich pressure for santorum to get out of this race. santorum has no intention of it,

both he and ron paul recognized they didn't have a chance to win in florida because this is not a proportionally-allocated state, it is winner take all. they moved on to future contests which newt gingrich has also said he'll do. today he said maybe june or july or until mitt romney drops out which seems unlikely in the wake of florida which hasn't yet tallied its votes, but the gingrich and the romney camps seem prepared to accept the idea that the former massachusetts governor will win the sunshine state. jon carl, any chance we'll be hearing you singing on the campaign trail anytime soon? is. [laughter] >> reporter: absolutely not, although i do know the lyrics to both "america the beautiful" and al green's tune, but i'm not doing it. [laughter] jon: all right. thanks, carl. jenna: excellent question. i was waiting for it, carl, but he didn't bite on that one. a.b. stoddard's joining us now, associate editor of the hill. i will not ask you about singing

because i respect you more than karl -- [laughter] but i have to ask you what's going to go beyond florida. nevada and maine this week, and then you have colorado and minnesota next. do these additional states, do they still matter in this race? >> they do. um, this is a chance in the february for particularly ron paul and rick santorum to organize in some caucus states and pile up some dell gates. -- delegates. it is a nice long month for people who are not good debaters, february 22nd, that's not a benefit for newt gingrich. and as you know, since it's sort of a quieter month, not a huge contest as significant as florida happening in february. it's a good chance for mitt romney to attract more money and more endorsements and more momentum from a win that we are expecting in florida. so it is, it's a month that looks good for, excuse me, for mitt romney and not so good for newt beginning retch, although newt gingrich is looking forward to contests in the south in mar on the 6th and then again in the

middle of the month where he could probably do well in louisiana, tennessee, georgia, alabama, mississippi and other places. and, um, so we are expecting him, you know, to at least hang in through march because that's probably, you know, places -- that has contests on the calendar that he can win. at that point, i guess, he's, you know, continuing to stay in, but i would expect at least this contest to go on with all four of them through mid march. jenna: i'm just going to paraphrase what he told bret baier last night, he said there knost evidence that mitt romney can get 50% of the vote anywhere, but looking ahead from florida on, is that 50% mark whether you're looking at nevada, maine or any of these additional states to not see a candidate get over 50%, is that a flag? is that something we should be paying attention to? >> you know, it is, it's just elementary that the longer the battle goes on, um, the less

time that the nominee is going to have to prepare for general election. in this case against, you know, someone who'll be a well-funded incumbent president. mitt romney and his supporters want that contest to begin as soon as possible, and spending money and moving on in a field with three other contenders who won't drop out and continue to divide up the vote, obviously, weakens mitt romney's showing in all of these contests. it's hard to get over 50% in a field where ron paul still has a devoted following and newt gingrich and santorum are splitting a conservative vote. the important thing about what newt gingrich said, however, in the his calls -- as you heard from carl cameron about how rick santorum should get out to consolidate the conservative vote -- the nbc poll has just shown that if san to have tore rum -- santorum were to leave, mitt romney would get his votes. santorum would probably be a stronger contender against romney than gingrich is now.

jenna: that's interesting. that's going to lead us up to another conversation, a.b.. appreciate it as always, thank you very much. we'll be right back with more "happening now." when i grow up,

i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're ner done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato.

♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

jenna: right now arizona investigators are combing through the charred remains of two homes, this after a mysterious explosion rocked a phoenix neighborhood. rick, do we know anything about what caused this? >> reporter: we don't yet, jenna. the police in chandler are calling this a suspicious explosion, they just don't know what set it off, but it's easy to see how powerful this thing was. two homes just leveled, and locals say they heard a couple loud blasts, then they looked outside just in time to see debris flying through the air. one of the homeowners was, luckily, not in the house at the time. the woman who owned the other house was able to get out

safely. normally, you'd think about natural gas being to blame in something like this, but apparently no homes in this particular neighborhood use natural gas, and the blast was reportedly too big to have been caused by a propane tank, so no exploding barbecue or anything like that. police would sure like to know the cause here, and as you mentioned, investigators continue to search that scene today hoping to get some answers. back to you. jenna: we'll look for those. rick, thank you. jon: well, a tale of two pipelines now and america's energy security. the keystone xl pipeline would have brought oil from alberta, canada, all the way down to texas. it's been in the news a lot, as you know. the obama administration has blocked the project to this point. so now canada says it wants to build another pipeline to its west coast, take most of that oil and ship it to china. are there some national security implications here? let's talk about it with kt mcfarlane, a fox news national security expert.

what do you think? a lot of people have said it seems a little crazy to take, you know, oil and jobs and so forth that america, obviously, could use from our good neighbor to the north and send it to canada. >> it's crazy. and, you know, jon, for the last hundred years access to energy and possession of energy has been the major factor in world events. if you had energy whether it was britain in the 19th century or the arab countries in the 20th century, you were rich beyond imagining. if you didn't have it, you went to war. so the 21st century's going to be the same way. but the difference is, it's our turn now. we've got in canada and in the united states oil and natural gas we didn't realize we had before, and in the last few years our engineers have told us we can get it out of the ground cheaply and securely. so why we're not taking advantage of this canadian oil which is a silver bullet for all of us is crazy. jon: stephen harper, the caid can prime minister has said he is profoundly disappointed with

our administration's decision not to build the pipeline down to the gulf coast. so if th build it to canada's west coast and ship it to china from there, what's the net effect? >> okay. i was with the canadian ambassador to the united states last month, and he said we're going to build a pipeline. we've got this new source of oil, we want to build that pipeline south. jon: they want to sell our oil. >> we want to sell our oil to you, and america and canada can be the energy superstars, but if you don't want us to build that pipeline south, we're going to build it west and export to china. now, china and india both need access to a lot of energy really quickly to sustain their economic growth. they're going to get it wherever they can, and if we're willing to walk away from the deal of the century and give it to the chinese, i think that's a major political mistake. and, you know, it's really terrible for the united states. their oil, canadian oil and american oil and natural gas, they're a silver bullet. they're great for jobs, create millions of jobs from it, it'll give us a secure and cheap source of energy for

generations, and it allows us to be independent of middle east oil and all the turmoil in the middle east. jon well, one of the arguments, one of the arguments, and there are many that the administration has trotted out against this thing, but one of the arguments is we need to wean this country off of oil, not good for, you know, global warming or whatever. >> yeah. jon: but if you send it to china, it's not like they're going to eat it. i mean, they're going to burn it anyway, right? [laughter] >> the world is not going to turn on windmills and solar panels. the fact of the matter is for transportation fuel or industrial fuels we're still using oil and coal and natural gas. it's built into our infrastructure. we're not going to change that in two years. to the fact that we have an access to cheap and secure energy and we're walking away from it is just a huge mistake on the part of the united states. jon: and perhaps sending it to a country, china, that we have a lot of questions about right now. >> well, and we're going to allow the chinese buildup at our own experience, their economic

buildup and, potentially, their military buildup. jon: kt mcfarlane, thank you. jenna: keeping iran from a nuclear weapon is certainly a big topic today, but what exactly does military option mean? we're going to get into the specifics with a former four-star general on what can be done to top the rogue nation before it's too late. plus, what last minute voters are saying in florida. we go live to phil keating in tampa. phil? >> reporter: hi. about a million registered republicans in florida expected to vote at precincts in if person today for their hope to become the republican nominee. why did they wait until election day when a third of the republicans voted early? i'll tell you after the break. [ hermann ] there's always something

that's going to have to be done by a certain date. you always have homework, okay? i don't have homework today. it's what's right here is what is most important to me. it's beautiful. ♪ ♪

[ male aouncer ] red lobster's ur course seafood feast is back. get soup, salad, cheddar bay biscuits, dessert and choose one of 7 entrees. four courses for only $15. offer ends soon. i'm jody gonzalez, ed lobster manager and i sea food differently.

jon: florida is known for its weather, its beaches and its early voting. in fact, as of yesterday more than 635,000 floridians had already cast their ballots. so what drives those who waited until today to go to the voting booth? phil keating is live in tampa. phil? >> reporter: well, a lot of things played for about a million florida registered republicans expected to cast their ballots today and get their well-earned i voted sticker. a third of the republicans already voted either by absentee ballot or by voting early, but that ended on saturday. so talking with the voters as they have left polling precinct

813 here today after casting their vote, they told us a lot of it came all the way down to television. florida, unlike south carolina and new hampshire and iowa, this was a very large state with ten tv markets, too much space, too much time and very much an expensive state. so the candidates really reached out to the voters via the television airwaves either on the two televised florida debates or from the nonstop commercials on the air, about $20 million spent by romney and gingrich alone, about four or five to one for romney attacking each other, and here's a taste of what the florida voters told us today. >> i voted for mitt romney, and i made up my mind after the last debate here in tampa. um, i thought, um, he came across as being very precise and clear on what he stands for. >> mitt and newt just beat the

heck out of each other, and the guy i voted for wasn't really -- >> rick santorum. >> rick santorum, yeah. >> the one that struck me the most, i really liked was newt gingrich. i've followed him, i've read up on him, and he seems to have all the beliefs that i, that i want in a president. he's a, like he says, he's a reagan guy. >> reporter: more than one voter telling us here today that what really turned them off was the nonstop attacks by mitt romney and newt gingrich against each other, and they felt that santorum and, in some cases, ron paul, they were the only ones that were really talking about the issues in these televised debates, and that's what really led them to finally decide today on primary day here in the sunshine state whom to vote for. because florida is having its primary earlier than it was supposed to, the rnc penalized it, deducting half of its delegates. so today is winner take all, 50 delegates go to the winner, and that's why two of the candidates, santorum and paul,

have already left the state looking down to nevada and maine and missouri in the future. you need 1144 delegates to secure the nomination, and the republican rules, and this is 50 delegates at stake helping in a big chunk to get along the way. jon? jon: and, phil, you have to wonder with 600,000 people having voted early, you've got to wonder if any of them, you know, might have changed their minds after mailing their ballots. >> reporter: yeah. well, herman cain and michele bachmann were on the ballot, so if you did mail in your ballot by absentee early, you could have lost out. jon: interesting. thank you. jenna: breaking news on iran today, word that the rogue nation is threatening to carry out terror attacks right inside our country if there is any possibility that we'd launch a military strike against their nuclear facilities. we heard from connecticut senator joe lieberman on "happening now" yesterday about this military option, and he said that a nuclear-armed iran is the most serious threat to world security. take a listen.

>> what we know is that they're pushing as rapidly as they can to get nuclear capability, and they're putting their centrifuges and all the rest of their program more deeply underground, and they're spreading it out. so with every passing day we get closer to a time when it's going to be very hard and, ultimately, impossible to stop this program. so that's why the clock is ticking, and it's an ominous clock, and the iranians have to know how seriously we and the rest of the world take what they're doing. jenna: general jack keane is a retired four-star general, also a fox news military analyst. and general keane, what senator lieberman said really caught our attention, saying that iran was spreading out its centrifuges, going deeper underground. so we had the question about if that's the situation in iran, then what does the military option really look like when you want to destroy those facilities? if that's the plan? >> well, i think short of

military action, there's lots we can do. covert operations, obviously, cyber attack against economic and military or targets, espionage against the facilities themselves and some of that is already taking place. and, clearly, we should be targeting the quds force leadership as well. in terms of military operations, um, clearly, that would be limited primarily to an airstrike. there may be some espionage conducted alongside of it. but it would be airstrike, there are multiple targets, not a single target. some of them are deeply buried, as you indicated. we do have deep penetrators that can get underneath the ground. it's, essentially, a physics problem that's been going on for about 20 years. our adversaries started to go deeper and build better fortifications, and we had to get better penetrators to reach them, and this has been going on, as i said, for mr. president

two decades. -- for almost two decades. jenna: there seems to be this perception that a military option or airstrikes would be quick and easy, not that much of a commitment. and, again, it just seems to be a general perception. is that accurate? >> well, first of all, it would probably be an air campaign as opposed to an airstrike. the iranians have sophisticated air defenses -- jenna: and what's the difference, by the way? i'm sorry, general, but what's the difference between the air campaign and airstrike? air campaign's longer, more involved? >> yeah, sure. longer, more planes. you know, it's a complicated operation to say the least. we would want to strip away their air defenses, but i would suspect we'd want to take some of those systems down. it's not going to be something we saw the israelis do against syria or against iraq where they conducted a single strike operation against a single target. this is multiple targets, much

more complicated. jenna: as a general, when would you know that now is the right moment to launch that air campaign? what would be the signs? >> well, i think, first of all, we have to recognize that the israelis are most likely to do this prior to our involvement. and they have stated to our officials that that is months away. the israelis believe a little differently on the time assessment that we do. we think they're a year or two to weaponization, and the israelis think that's, actually, sometime this year. so they're looking to do something. if we believe what they've said publicly, in a matter of months as opposed to next year. jenna: did you ever think in your lifetime you would see the united states go to war in iran? is that something you really thought you would see? >> well, as a military officer on active duty for 37 years, we planned to go to war with iraq in scenarios -- with iran in

scenarios as you would expect us to do. we've done that for many years. it's one of the likely possibilities that are out there. i think we've been on a collision course with iran since 1980 when they declared us their strategic, number one enemy in the world, and they've been using state-sponsored terrorism against us through their proxies for 30 years. and it's not going to stop. we're on a collision course with the iranians, and i think it's inevitable that we will have some kind of conflict with them. jenna: you give us some real perspective to think about, general. we really appreciate you joining us today and look forward to having you back. thank you. >> okay, jenna. it was good seeing you. jon: in the mediterranean, major developments in that cruise ship tragedy off the coast of italy. a number of victims remain missing. the scenario changing by the day. what it means for the families of the victims. these days just about everyone carries a cell phone, and most of those are able to record video. some folks have recorded police beatings like this one. coming up, we'll look at a recent case in which the police

didn't like being recorded, and they took action. is what they did legal? we'll is ask the judge.

jenna: italian emergency crews have called off the search for the missing in the submerged part of that cruise ship in italy. authorities say conditions are simply too dangerous for workers at this point to continue to do that. but they will continue to search for possible victims around the ship and in areas that are above water. seventeen bodies have been recovered so far, but more than a dozen others are missing and presumed ted at this point. -- dead at this point. among them, american couple jerry and barbara heil. authorities are pumping fuel out of the ship, it could be summer before the whole ship is removed from that scene. jon: "happening now" in congress, debate is underway on a bill that few americans would oppose, a law that would bar members of congress from trading stocks based on insider information that they develop

through their jobs. steve centanni has more on that live from washington. steve? >> reporter: jon, this bill has strong bipartisan support, as you mentioned, but today it faces a new challenge as a variety of amendments are expected to be introduced. even so, it appears to be on a fast track to senate passage after the president issued this challenge last week. >> send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of congress, i will sign it tomorrow. [applause] >> reporter: yesterday the senate voted 93-2 to continue with debate on that bill. the measure prohibits members of congress from using information they learn in the course of their duties to make a profit in the markets. well, now we expect an amendment that would also include the white house and the executive branch employees in that. >> if goal here is for everyone to play by the same rules, that shouldn't mean just some of us, and it certainly shouldn't leave out those in the executive branch who, after all, have access to the most privileged information of all.

and so the goal here in the course of this floor debate will be to make sure that the executive branch and those most likely to take advantage of insider information is fully and adequately covered. >> reporter: mcconnell also want on to say the president's supporting this bill not because he supports the policy, but because it changes the subject from his failing economy. democrat dick durbin defended the president saying the economy's improving but didn't rule out supporting an amendment to ban insider trading in the executive branch. >> i don't think it's wrong for the president to challenge us, and i don't think it's wrong for the republican leader to challenge the executive branch at the same level. that's fair. you know, i'm friendly to the president, a member of his party and a personal friend to him before he was elected and still today. he should accept the challenge from the senator from kentucky to take a look at the standards within the executive branch. >> reporter: now, the senate bill could see final passage this week depending on what

happens with those amendments today. the house, meantime, considering it own version of the bill that includes real estate transactions and be all federal employees, not just congress. jon? jon: do i smell bipartisan agreement on capitol hill, steve? is that possible? >> reporter: a tiny little bit. yes, we'll see what happens with that. jon: steve centanni, thank you. jenna: cell phone cameras come in handy, especially when you see someone breaking the law like the scene right here, but it's police officers who are accused of, well, doing something wrong. now, several states are trying to prevent people from taking pictures like this. we have judge napolitano on the case on what this means next. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

jon: there is growing outrage in some quarters of houston right now over a case of alleged police brutality and new concerns about your right to record what police are doing in public. even as the police be install more cameras to track your every move. several states are passing laws that would make recording the police illegal. they are citing wiretap laws as justification, but even where it is legal officer will sometimes confiscate cell phone cameras or cell phones themselves just to get rid of any evidence. judge andrew napolitano is our senior judicial analyst and joins us now. this is motivated by a case underway right now, being argued in houston in which a woman claims that she recorded police beating up her husband -- >> right. jon: and she says that the police actually grabbed her cell phone, took out the digital card that records video to get rid of the evidence. >> well that, of course, would

be bob instruction of -- obstruction of justice, it would also be theft by the police, it would also be a violation of her civil rights. because under standard interpretation of the first amendment you have the right, if you're lawfully present, to witness the behavior of the government in public, and you have the right to record the behavior of the government in public. we're not talking about taking a camera into a courtroom or into a jury deliberation room, we're talking about police on a public street doing their job. jon: right. so it astounds me to know that a number of states may have passed laws that say you're not allowed to do that. >> well, no states have passed laws, but you are quite correct that the states you put up on the screen are contemplating laws motivated by pressure from the police unions because the police do not like to be recorded as they go about their work. even though the right to do so is protected by the first amendment. so those laws, in my view, would be invalidated by federal judges if they are enacted as soon as

they become effective. jon: you don't think they're going to be, you don't think they're going to pass, or if they do pass, they'll get shot down? >> i think they'll pass because the police unions are powerful in those states, but i think they will be shot down by federal judges who articulate the traditional jurisprudence which is you can take a picture of whatever you see in public. think about it big picture now. no pun intended. police take pictures of us everywhere we go, and they work for us. jon: yeah. most police departments have dashboard cameras now so they can record what an officer is doing, you know, pretty much every moment he or she is on duty. how is this different? >> this is no different except that sometimes the dashboard camera tapes disappear like in seattle where three years of dashboard camera tapes have suddenly gone missing. and the police have no explanation as to their whereabouts. jon: judge napolitano, interesting. i know you'll stay on this. >> absolutely, jon. thank you. jon: see more of the judge on

the fox business network, he is the host of "freedom watch." it airs weeknights 8 and 11 p.m. eastern time except for tonight because we've got some special coverage of the florida primary. >> yes, we do. cavuto's going to be on all night. he's not going to go to sleep.wh jon: he owns that place. c [laughter] we'll be right back. i'm like... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help rightway

if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operati machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. it helps to have people around you... they say, you're much bigger than this. and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. we have to thank you for the advice on phillips' caplets. magnesium, right? you bet! phillips' caplets use magnesium. works more naturally than smulant laxatives... for gentle relief of occasional constipation. can i get an autograph? [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪

she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

jenna: we keep on saying it's a mild winter in the united states, not for everybody, though, rick. >> reporter: it had been mild in fulton, new york, in central new york about ten miles or so from lake ontario. they got walloped with 32.5 inches of snow. it's lake-effect-snow. i went to school in that town. the kids in that town had only a two-hour delay from school. they didn't even get the day after after almost three feet of no. jenna: us california kids we give up. that's what you're really made